Mayor's priorities: Kids, public safety, environment

She's a mayor who was a member of the PTA, a sports mom and a former athlete.

No, this profile isn't about Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, but Thousand Oaks Mayor Jacqui Irwin.

Irwin was elected to the City Council in 2004 after being appointed to the planning commission in 2003. Her emphasis has been children, public safety and the environment, she said.

While she's been serving, some of the accomplishments of the City Council have included, Irwin said, helping to fund the pool at California Lutheran University; hiring new school resource officers for the high schools; adding an Internet police officer to fight Internet predators; working to lower speed limits on Lynn Road; improving the horse facility in Newbury Park; finding an operator for the city's golf course; and attracting Nordstrom to The Oaks mall.

New challenges during the next four years will require someone with City Council experience who's well-schooled in the city's finances, Irwin said.

"In the future we'll have to do more with less. We don't want declining sales taxes to affect the city's services."

She said she trusts City Manager Scott Mitnick, whom she described as an expert administrator, to continue to balance the city's budget and provide effective recommendations to the council.

Irwin earned her bachelor's degree in systems engineering with a minor in political science from UC San Diego. While at UCSD, she competed in water polo and was an Academic AllAmerican in swimming. Before having children, she worked in the applied physics lab of Teledyne Systems Corporation as a systems engineer.

The wife of Jon Irwin, president of Emerald Healthcare, and mother of three—students in college, high school and middle school—Irwin has served as president of the T.O. Titans Football Association and has had key positions in the PTA. The Irwin family moved to Thousand Oaks in 1995.

As a City Council member, Irwin's service has included participation on the Crime Prevention Task Force, the Lynn/Olsen Road Traffic and Pedestrian committee and the Conejo Coalition for Youth and Family Intergovernmental Relations committee.

She also serves on Cal State Channel Islands' dean's leadership committee, she's been the chair for the American Diabetes Tour de Cure bike ride and serves on the board of the Ventura County Red Cross.

In recognition of her service to the community, Irwin was named the Thousand OaksWestlake Village Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year in 2008.

For more information, visit www.jacquiirwin.com.